Windows 11 knows my EXACT location even though it shouldn't

I installed Windows 11 Home 24H2 on real hardware for testing purposes.
I performed the installation without Internet access because the installer did not include drivers for my wireless card.
I used an online account requirement bypass and disabled location services during initial configuration.
When the desktop appeared, I confirmed that location services were disabled. I transferred the network card driver from USB stick, installed it and updated the system.
After several restarts I had a fully up-to-date system. Windows did not change the location setting on its own, so it remained disabled.

Imagine my surprise when it turned out that the weather widget in the left corner of the taskbar shows the weather for my exact location (a small village with only a couple of houses).
It is impossible for Windows to have obtained it from the IP address, because according to several websites, this address points to the nearest large city, which is over 100 km away, or to the ISP headquarters, which is several hundred kilometers away.

It gets even stranger, because the weather app, as set up in settings, does not have access to the location, it probably uses the system language to determine location and displays the weather for the capital city.

For reasons unknown to me, the widget on the taskbar knows my exact location. On what basis? Is this a mistake on Microsoft's part, which failed to ensure that the system appeared to respect user settings in every place and inadvertently shared its spy findings with the user?

If this isn't the right place to ask this question, I apologize and hope you can give me some advice where to ask. I originally wanted to ask on Reddit about privacy, but it turns out you have to wait seven days after creating an account and farm some karma points just to ask one simple question.
I also tried searching for solutions online, but all I found were overly confident comments saying that it was definitely the location based on the IP address, which doesn't make sense in my case. Copilot's suggestions are complete nonsense as always.

Hello Edie, and welcome to the forum.

You can check using the tutorial below to see if it may be from what was set for "Default location".

You can set a default location for your device that Windows, apps, and services can use when a more exact location can’t be detected using GPS or other methods.

I cannot give you exact answer, but if you use the local WiFi access point, Microsoft could memorise its location if it has been determined in the past, for example, by another PC where the location permission was turned on. I have met such situations using the public WiFi access points in the hotels.

An IP address is enough to determine down to the city you are in.
Ask Google what is my ip then search for "geo ip" and throw that IP in and you get either your exact city or fairly close

@neemobeerAs I wrote in my first post, I tried geo tracking, and at best it was the nearest large city. Such IP-based location tracking makes no sense for a tiny village with just a few houses.

The answers above are more likely, but very disturbing, because there is nothing that can be done about it, and the only thing that setting the location does is hiding it from applications, while the system still knows the exact location of the computer down to a specific house.

weirdedie said:

The answers above are more likely, but very disturbing, because there is nothing that can be done about it, and the only thing that setting the location does is hiding it from applications, while the system still knows the exact location of the computer down to a specific house.

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Sorry but doesn't your ISP know where you live?
And doesn't your ISP provide you with an IP address via the use of a router so you can get on the internet?
Your OS can not block that as it can't go before the router.
The moment you are connected, there is always a way to track you, regardless of what some VPN providers might claim.

It's mobile internet but I think by base station location my ISP definitely knows where I am. But what worries me is that Microsoft knows about it and I wonder how they found out. I didn't sign a contract with them.

And I don't like the fact that there's no way to block it, contrary to what Microsoft itself suggests in the location settings. Heck, my device doesn't even have GPS! That's why I was surprised.

weirdedie said:

It's mobile internet but I think by base station location my ISP definitely knows where I am. But what worries me is that Microsoft knows about it and I wonder how they found out. I didn't sign a contract with them.

And I don't like the fact that there's no way to block it, contrary to what Microsoft itself suggests in the location settings. Heck, my device doesn't even have GPS! That's why I was surprised.

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Please use some geo-location tools from :


On the page What is my geolocation, use the drop-down options to demonstrate which methods could be used to track you,at the browser level, regardless of your OS.

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May be you logged in with the same account on a mobile browser and web browser like chrome in both place.

There is a location based on Windows, based on the browser, based on the IP, based your address listed in any account and etc.

Code:

https://account.live.com/Activity

Anyway, MS uses your location to prevent or to notify you about a suspicious logins. Maybe 11 has set the default location?

That is why I can not use Bing, I have set my location to US/EN, yet Bing shows local results and language, annoying, unusable.



Unless you use VPN, you can not really complain about location leaks.
Make sure you use an encrypted DNS, that prevents the most common leaks.

The other half of users constantly complain Windows can't figure out exactly where they live, and gives them the wrong Weather forecasts.

garlin said:

The other half of users constantly complain Windows can't figure out exactly where they live, and gives them the wrong Weather forecasts.

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Just like my Xiaomi Band watch, it uses GPS instead of my manually set location. GPS uses the weather station miles away.